Posted on 01/31/2020 10:16:31 AM PST by cann
Russian scientists have published a concept for a new kind of nuclear reactor. It’s a hybrid reactor, meaning it includes both fusion and fission, and it runs almost exclusively on thorium instead of more volatile uranium. In computer simulations, the research team found its novel design of an “energy-generating blanket” could still produce high power with a relatively small footprint and not much radioactive waste.
There’s a lot to like about this design, including how it offers interesting middle-ground solutions in terms of fuel, reactor configuration, and safety. Thorium is one of the most abundant elements of its kind—more abundant than tin, which is so common and accessible that it’s one of the classical elements of alchemy. Uranium isn’t the rarest element in nature, but little of it is “available” in a common or affordable sense. If uranium were an asset, it would be a long-term CD with a penalty for convenient withdrawal.
In the hybrid thorium setup, thorium-plutonium pellets power a high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor. The paper doesn’t specify the gas, but existing coolants include carbon dioxide and helium. Gas-cooled reactors have always offered a way for reactors to make power using un-enriched, regular old uranium, making it more affordable and accessible to more countries. A hybrid reactor running on thorium could fill the same space.
A traditional nuclear reactor runs in critical state, but the hybrid thorium reactor instead operates in near-critical state. Instead of having a chain of neutrons produced by critical reaction, neutrons continue to pour in from a separate source. A magnetic field inside the reactor holds the powerful cloud of ionized gaseous deuterium plasma, which is the fusion part of the fusion-fission reactor. From there, neutrons spill out into a part the scientists call an “energy-generating blanket.” It’s this blanket where subcritical fission takes place, using neutrons from inside the plasma-filled magnetic tube.
The reactor itself is relatively small, with the plasma chamber measuring 12 meters in length. And by combining a fusion reaction with a fission one, the reactor maximizes efficiency. Compared with developing technology like the tokamak, this design could be much more down to earth, with less ramp-up time to performance and less volatility once it’s engaged.
Fire it up!
I’ll watch from over here........................
I remember the fake fission story from Popular Mechanics back in the 80’s.
Yeah, hope they’re careful where they point that thing.
“I remember the fake fission story from Popular Mechanics back in the 80’s.”
Yep, I’ll believe it when I have one running my home.
Thorium reactors will be here someday. Lots of good things about them. The waste is bad for a few hundred years instead of 10,000. And Thorium is way easier to find. The only reason we haven’t used them yet is that they are very poor for building weapons grade fissile material.
But these are gonna be a big deal some day.
Thorium reactors will be here someday. Lots of good things about them. The waste is bad for a few hundred years instead of 10,000. And Thorium is way easier to find. The only reason we haven’t used them yet is that they are very poor for building weapons grade fissile material.
But these are gonna be a big deal some day.
Yep..... that’s what we need.
All those years ago Lyndon Larouche was right to promote a fusion reactor and the fact the Russian gnomes were hard at work on the task.
Cold fusion, I believe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_Big_Inch_Land_Promotion
MY hero...
And no, it didn't send him my dirty underwear as a devoted fan, although it may look like it. >:(
There was Blair Of The Mounties.
Decent OTR.
“I remember the fake fission story from Popular Mechanics back in the 80’s.”
Fake fission?
“. The only reason we haven’t used them yet is that they are very poor for building weapons grade fissile material.”
Wrong.
This author doesn’t understand what the word “volatile” means.
I’m glad to learn of that show....unless it had a dog in it.... like *Yukon King*, I might not have been interested. Hey, it was the 50s....and my parents wouldn’t let me have a dog. :(
I knew this article was full of crap as soon as they started talking fusion.
I’m pretty positive this will never work.
Sorry, cold fusion story, I think it was 1989.
Thorium is the #2 contributor to natural background radiation.
It used to be used in those Coleman lantern glass mantles.
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